Electronic signs bridge safety gap
9th August 1990, Page 6
9th August 1990
Page 6
Page 6, 9th August 1990
— Electronic signs bridge safety gap
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• A series of electronic warning signs designed to combat bridge bashing are being fitted to 24 of Britain's most potentially dangerous railway bridges.
By next April, the Department of Transport plans to have 21 warning signs in operation. It has already fitted one sign at the Beeston railway bridge on the A49 at Chester. The signs are activated when high vehicles break an infra-red beam, and a display tells the driver to turn back.
Bridge bashing costs Britain 22m a year. Nearly 700 bridges were hit last year and the DTp estimates 25 of the crashes could have been fatal by causing a train de-railment. It hopes local authorities will fit the signs on their roads. There are up to 4,000 potentially dangerous low bridges.